Saehan Media Ireland Limited has announced that it is to close its plant at Hazelwood in Sligo in April with the loss of 91 jobs.
A spokesman said the factory, which makes videotape and video cassettes, had suffered heavy losses because of a worldwide drop in demand for its products and increased manufacturing costs in Ireland.
He said the company's operating loss was more than €10m in 2005. This followed a loss of €2.4m in 2004.
'In recent years we have reduced our workforce and introduced changes in the plant to try and remain profitable. However the market for videotape has collapsed and our losses at the Sligo factory are simply going to keep rising. We are forced to accept that closure is the only remaining option,' the company said.
The factory will close on Friday April 28. The employees were informed at a series of meetings this morning.
Saehan Media is based in Korea and is one of the world's top suppliers of magnetic tape. It opened its Sligo plant in 1991 and was one of the biggest manufacturing employers in the west of Ireland at one time, with a workforce of around 500.
Saehan Media Ireland announced 70 redundancies in January last year and around 80 redundancies in October 2003.
